What Would Jesus Eat? How the Answer Changed My Life

Imagine being in the places we read about in the pages of our Bible, with Jesus by your side. Day to day, did the disciples ever obsess over what they were eating, how many carbs it contained or if it had too much fat? I don't get the impression that they did. I think there were times they worried about not having enough food, since Jesus had the conversation with them in the book of Matthew about not worrying about what they would eat or wear, but to seek first God's kingdom and God would provide all those things they needed as well. Then of course there were the times they and all the people with them were hungry and Jesus multiplied what little food was present to make it more than enough for everyone. But those worries aside, I have learned that what Jesus and His followers ate was real food, locally grown, farmed or caught.

A quick Google search brought me to an article on the Dr. Oz website that talked about a book called A Year of Living Biblically, which is definitely on my want to read list. Author Al Jacobs and Dr. Don Colbert studied the Bible for nutritional clues about Jesus's diet. They said in His region of the world, lentils, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, dates, nuts and fish were readily available and quite popular. Many people ate their food raw, and with no refrigerators it was harder to eat massive amounts of meat at every meal, as we commonly do in America today. We know if we read the Bible Jesus did eat some meat, which proves to me it is morally right, however I do think God might be unhappy with the current abusive practices of factory farming. That is a post for another day, but this is why I am trying to buy more of the meats we do consume in our house from local farms who raise their animals in a humane way, the way they were raised in the early years of our planet when people in the Bible had livestock.
My point of writing today is this...eating like Jesus ate will restore health to our bodies. I am living proof. It is simple to do, although not easy, as we are bombarded with edible substances all around us that our bodies were never designed to consume. No wonder we have a spike in diseases of all kinds that are cutting our lives short or decreasing the quality of life we enjoy. But I am fully convinced that the answer to losing weight does not lie in fad diets, low carb diets or meal replacements. The answer is to eat what God made. When I drastically decreased processed foods, and seriously increased the number of vegetables I ate, the weight I could never lose finally started to come off. And even more importantly, I was cured of an autoimmune disease.

One of my heroes in the health industry is Dr. Mark Hymen. Listening to his podcast, The Doctor's Farmacy was the first thing that made me believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could heal from my autoimmune disease buy fixing my nutrition, and therefore fixing my gut health. The information he gave me was absolutely correct! It worked! Functional medicine is an amazing thing and I look forward to the day that it becomes more accessible in our country.
When I read the book The Daniel Plan last year, I loved it so much that I purchased the Bible study materials and videos so that I could share them with my challengers. Dr. Hymen happens to be one of the medical experts interviewed in the book and on the video series. The simplicity of something he said struck me as the real key to health. "If God made it, eat it. If a factory made it, don't." That quote has come back to my mind this year as the answer to reclaiming my health, and it is what I tried to follow most of the time that gave me success after struggling for well over a year. If God created the food, it is good to eat. Even if it has natural sugars. All those foods found in nature were designed to provide our bodies with what they need to thrive. The Daniel Plan book has scientific evidence to back up the Biblical belief that this is the best way to go. Throughout the journey of the book, we learn about everything that is needed to help us achieve and maintain good health. It has five essential categories of faith, food, fitness, focus and friends. I am so happy to be in a partnership with my coach, Andrea, as we agree that we have the same heart for teaching people about health as a result of faith in Jesus Christ. We both know that the only way to achieve lasting freedom and peace in every area is through a relationship with Him. As I have just shown, the answer to everything you need to know can be found in the pages of the Bible, including the healthiest diet. I would be so happy to have you dive into this amazing Bible study with us, starting at the end of this month in an online group. Consider this your invitation to join! Ask me for details and let's dive in to our best lives together.